Okatie Elementary's School Improvement Council takes step toward state recognition

The Okatie Elementary School Improvement Council has taken a step toward earning a prestigious statewide award that honors accomplishments in parent and civic engagement.

SICs at Okatie Elementary and eight other South Carolina schools have been named Honor Roll SICs and are in the running for the annual South Carolina School Improvement Council’s Dick and Tunky Riley Award for School Improvement Council Excellence. Named for the former U.S. Secretary of Education and South Carolina Governor and his late wife, the Riley Award was created in 2002 to recognize the contributions made by the more than 14,000 local School Improvement Council members who volunteer in public schools across the state.

Five finalists from this year’s Honor Roll will be selected late next month, with one to be named the eventual winner of the annual Riley Award. This year’s recipient will be announced March 23 at the SC-SIC Annual Meeting in Columbia.

In addition to Okatie, the other eight 2013 Honor Roll SIC’s are:

Beck Academy Middle SIC (Greenville County Schools)

Blaney Elementary SIC (Kershaw County School District)

Brushy Creek Elementary SIC (Greenville County Schools)

C.A. Johnson High SIC (Richland School District 1)

Eagle Nest Elementary SIC (Dorchester School District 2)

Ebinport Elementary SIC (Rock Hill School District 3)

North Augusta High SIC (Aiken County Public School District)

Richland Northeast High SIC (Richland School District 2)

“School Improvement Councils can be an important asset for any school and can make invaluable contributions to school success,” said Beaufort County Board of Education Chairman Bill Evans. “It’s great to see one of our own SICs be recognized for outstanding performance.”

Evans, who was elected as the Board’s chair earlier this month, has asked Board members to make a special effort to attend SIC meetings in their constituent districts.

SC-SIC Board of Trustees Chair Ellen M. Still said that the newly selected Honor Roll SICs had demonstrated their commitment to building parent and community engagement.

“In today’s environment of limited revenue and increased expectations, the contributions made by South Carolina’s School Improvement Councils and their members are even more essential,” Still said. “We congratulate these SICs and continue to honor and support all of our School Improvement Councils for the significant value they bring to their schools, their students, and the future of South Carolina.”

In the past year, local School Improvement Council members across South Carolina committed over 230,000 volunteer hours to their schools at an estimated value of nearly $4 million while receiving $200 in state allocations per school.

School Improvement Councils were established in state law 35 years ago this year. Located in the University of South Carolina’s College of Education, the SC School Improvement Council provides the member training, technical assistance, statutory accountability, and other operational resources necessary for the continued success of the community-based SIC’s in each of South Carolina’s 1,100-plus K-12 public schools.

Last year, Port Royal Elementary School’s SIC was a state finalist for the Riley Award.